Even I got that one.
[via @rollingstone]
US TV
Mad Men
US TV
A roundtable with Claire Danes, Emmy Rossum, Kyra Sedgwick, Mireille Enos, Julianna Margulies and January Jones
The Hollywood Reporter has some great roundtables with actors and actresses, and since they’ve finally worked out how to give people like me embed codes, let’s take the opportunity to show off their latest roundtable with the Emmy-nominated Claire Danes (Homeland), Emmy Rossum (Shameless), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Mireille Enos (The Killing), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) and January Jones (Mad Men).
Yes, January Jones is up for an Emmy this year. No, don’t ask me why.
Did you know that Kyra Sedgwick auditioned for Flashdance? No, me either. This, the full 50-minute interview and the answers to “What was your scariest moment as an actress?”, “Nudity – when is it okay?”, and “Who has influenced your career?” after the jump
It’s not every day you see Jon Hamm rap the theme to Taxi
Well is it? And that’s a pretty good Reverend Jim he does, too.
[via]
What did you watch last week? Including The Bridge, The Almighty Johnsons and Don’t Trust The B—-
It’s “What did you watch last week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched last week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.
The usual recommendations from the first-run shows are: The Almighty Johnsons, The Apprentice, Awake, BeTipul, The Bridge, Community, Cougar Town, The Daily Show, House, Mad Men, Modern Family, and 30 Rock. Hunt them down.
Only two episodes in the backlog this week: House and Touch. And I’m saving up the second series of Braquo for when the mother-in-law comes round.
Here’s a few thoughts on the regulars:
- Mad Men – funny, interesting to see where they’re taking Megan as a character, but also Pete and Peggy. And who knew what a new man Don Draper was? And The Beatles – awesome.
- Missing – an entirely predictable set of revelations, but Judd seems to have become crap at fighting all of a sudden
- Cougar Town – glad they’re expanding the cast with the new character, who fits in well
- Louis Theroux’s Extreme love: Autism – I have to ask – why did LT have to go to America to find some autistic children? We do have them here, you know. Was there an ethics problem or is there, as my wife suggests, an embarrassing lack of residential care facilities for autistic children in the UK?
- The Almighty Johnsons – a lovely episode. Good to see the goddesses now coming front and centre, but it has to be said the male gaze is still there: it was a golden opportunity for the goddesses to explain becoming a goddess to Gaia but that was glossed over because essentially it’s all about the gods’ reactions to the goddesses, rather than the goddesses as people in their own rights. But I knew it was only a matter of time before other pantheons came into the show, and I’m pleased by the looks of the trailer for the next episode as to which one it might be.
- Suburgatory – how quickly do women gestate in Suburgatory? Alicia Silverstone wasn’t showing at all last episode IIRC…
- Awake – A bit dull, and a distinct lack of therapists
- Community – Shocks all round from the finale! A weird episode, but still not very funny
- 30 Rock – A spot on analysis of scripted reality shows bit rubbish and unfunny all the same.
- Don’t Trust The B—- – And the show finds its feet again, this time with the first of the non-James Van Der Beek celebrity appearances: Kevin Sorbo. Let’s hope they can maintain this, even if Dreama Walker’s character still isn’t funny, despite her best efforts this episode.
- The Bridge – well, I was expecting it to be a cop, so the revelation at the end of the last episode wasn’t too surprising. Then again, the previous episode revealed it might be Stefan, so maybe that’s not too conclusive a statement. Still very much enjoying it though.
“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?
Third-episode verdict: Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt 23 (ABC)
In the US: Wednesdays, 9.30c/8.30c, ABC
There’s surprising variability to Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt 23, an intriguing little show about a wide-eyes, mid-westerner who moves to the big city and ends up flat-sharing with a New York sociopath who’s best friends with James Van Der Beek from Dawson’s Creek. On the one hand, there’s a really rather lovely dark streak to the whole show, Krysten Ritter (the B—- in question) is deliciously evil while also endearing and James Van Der Beek has a great time sending himself up.
But stuck in the middle of this is the big glaring problem of Dreama Walker, the wide-eyes mid-westerner, whose character sucks almost all humour from every scene she’s in. When the show focuses on Ritter and Van Der Beek – or even guest stars, like Michael Landes – as it did in episode two and to a lesser extent episode one, it works well and is funny; when it devotes itself to Watson, as in episode three, it’s a big mass of mid-western tumbleweeds rolling across the screen.
Which is a shame, because there are some really funny moments in the show. Episode three had Van Der Beek doing a body-swap comedy movie with Don Draper’s daughter from Mad Men, which had the memorable line "I had to make out with mummy!", and pretty much everything Ritter had to say worked nicely.
If somehow, they could just get rid of Walker or sideline her, this would be a really good show. Unfortunately, at the moment, it’s just okay. If you watch it, you’ll have to sit through some cruft to get to the good stuff, but that good stuff is worth it. One for the ‘maybe’ pile.
Carusometer rating: 3
Rob’s prediction: Will last for a season then get cancelled